Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Yesterday I began quilting the sky in this quilt, a landscape with a lighthouse. It is sort of a scribble pattern. The example in my book is even and regular, but my mind can't seem to do repetition. I think more like jazz than chords or toe-tapping. Anyway, it is started.

It seems that my biggest procrastination is not so much picking a quilting motif as the fear that my lack of skill will mess it up. Translation: I need more practice. That seems to be impossible right now. I should have a practice sandwich on the long arm all the time. For this, I mounted the quilt a bit to the right and put a practice piece on the left to try my threads, etc. so maybe that will help.

Another project is on the wall. This one is for a competition, so I'm not going to reveal all of it, only enough to say that the photo on the right is one front leg of a horse. You can see the pattern for the other front leg to the left of it. I'm making it in a combination of foundation paper-piecing and applique. So far, this is lots of fun! The pattern is my own design, sort of. I have permission from a wonderful artist to use his paintings as design ideas for my quilts.We had a month holiday in SC and that was a good rest. Now I'm back at full-time studies and trying to squeeze in time to quilt and other artistic endeavors. Actually, this changes concentration from one side of the brain to the other and works well as a break... beats cleaning and other housework. My reasoning? How can the house get dirty when I'm on the computer all day?!

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Being away from my sewing machine for over a month has left me lean and hungry. I did manage to buy a couple yards of fabric at Mary Jo's in Gastonia, NC (a great place) and sew on a button, but that is all. Oh, that was difficult.

I was going to take a project with me on this trip, then buy a used sewing machine to leave at my daughter's house, but after seeing all the models that Baby Lock has to offer, I knew I would not be able to buy a simple used machine, and if I bought a less-than-simple new one, leaving it behind would also be difficult. So instead, I developed a new pattern while my hubby was golfing and my daughter was working. Remember the nativity scene quilt? (Link) I developed and quickly sold this pattern (all that I could make by copyright permission). I'm still getting requests for it, so decided to do a new one, this time not needing copyright permissions that would limit how many I could sell. It isn't quite ready yet, but watch this space! I will have to make the quilt too, but can post a picture of the pattern when it is done. A finish is soon expected.

For now, the lighthouse quilt (Link) is on the longarm and I am trying to decide how to quilt it, starting with the sky. I could follow the design of the clouds in the sky, or do an allover motif that looks like clouds. Opinions and suggestions are welcome.Happy New Year!

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Background

I started quilting in 1995 and have completed more than 150 quilts, using a Bernina 1630, a Baby Lock Pro Quilter and a HQ-16, now an Avante longarm. I like "free motion make-it-up-as-I-go" quilting rather marked designs. All comments are answered by email, if possible.